European Union Enlargement and Democratisation: The Normative Disconnect in Hungary and Czechia
Enlargement is often considered to be the strongest foreign policy tool available to the European Union, and is instrumental in the EU’s efforts to spread its liberal democratic norms in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However, the experience of recent years has painted a more uneven picture. While the EU’s norms have proven to be reasonably robust in countries such as Czechia, in others, most notably Hungary, they have proven to be far more fragile. What accounts for this post-accession variation in adherence to liberal democratic norms between the post-communist Central and Eastern European Countries? And what implications does this have for the use of enlargement policy as a means for spreading democracy? This book explains the processes and mechanisms which determine how the liberal democratic norms of the European Union can be transferred to another country; and why enlargement has had such mixed results to date.
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European Union Enlargement and Democratisation: The Normative Disconnect in Hungary and Czechia
Enlargement is often considered to be the strongest foreign policy tool available to the European Union, and is instrumental in the EU’s efforts to spread its liberal democratic norms in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However, the experience of recent years has painted a more uneven picture. While the EU’s norms have proven to be reasonably robust in countries such as Czechia, in others, most notably Hungary, they have proven to be far more fragile. What accounts for this post-accession variation in adherence to liberal democratic norms between the post-communist Central and Eastern European Countries? And what implications does this have for the use of enlargement policy as a means for spreading democracy? This book explains the processes and mechanisms which determine how the liberal democratic norms of the European Union can be transferred to another country; and why enlargement has had such mixed results to date.
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European Union Enlargement and Democratisation: The Normative Disconnect in Hungary and Czechia

European Union Enlargement and Democratisation: The Normative Disconnect in Hungary and Czechia

by Michael Toomey
European Union Enlargement and Democratisation: The Normative Disconnect in Hungary and Czechia

European Union Enlargement and Democratisation: The Normative Disconnect in Hungary and Czechia

by Michael Toomey

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Overview

Enlargement is often considered to be the strongest foreign policy tool available to the European Union, and is instrumental in the EU’s efforts to spread its liberal democratic norms in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However, the experience of recent years has painted a more uneven picture. While the EU’s norms have proven to be reasonably robust in countries such as Czechia, in others, most notably Hungary, they have proven to be far more fragile. What accounts for this post-accession variation in adherence to liberal democratic norms between the post-communist Central and Eastern European Countries? And what implications does this have for the use of enlargement policy as a means for spreading democracy? This book explains the processes and mechanisms which determine how the liberal democratic norms of the European Union can be transferred to another country; and why enlargement has had such mixed results to date.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781474485586
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Publication date: 08/31/2025
Pages: 200
Product dimensions: 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Toomey is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Glasgow.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: The Myth of the European Union’s Normative Power in the Field of Democratization Practices

1. Norm Emergence and Internalization, and the Role of Civil Society Actors

2. Democratic Transition, European Union Accession, and the Role of Civil Society in Hungary and Czechia

3. The Values Gap: The Failure to Develop Liberal Democratic Values in Hungary and Czechia

4.The European Union’s Record as a Liberal Democratic Normative Power: The Instrumentalization of Membership and the Failure of Normative Change

Conclusion: What Can be Done to Preserve Liberal Democracy in Central Europe and the European Union?

Sources and Bibliography
Index

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